Crew Emergency Stations
Did you notice the extreme weather conditions shown in the last two Log Abstracts? By this time everyone on board
would have been saddened by the news of the USAF station loss. Here, I'll describe what this drill would have been
like when performed at short notice in inclement weather.
Of course, the short notice plays its part as there's never much prior warning of such an event. However, at 11am as a
steward on board you'd normally be clearing-up after your “jacket job” duties and looking forward to a 90
minute break before Luncheon service.
To instead find yourself, after 4 hours work, following other crew up to the boat deck didn't curry much enthusiasm.
It was when you arrived on that open deck when the shock really hit you! There below was an angry sea complemented by
a biting wind strong enough to cut you to shreds.
Some of us would only be wearing a thin white “duty jacket” with maybe a t-shirt beneath. Hardly anyone
would be wearing an overcoat, let alone think of any need. After all, it would only get in the way of putting on your
life-jacket, or help you drown if you did fall overboard.
For the next 30 to 35 minutes, you'd have to endure the full performance of the boats being lowered; straining to hear
the safety instructions, then watch them being raised back into their davits. Often, some boats refused to latch properly.
No-one was dismissed until they had all latched. It could be a long wait…
Never before, nor since we did an emergency drill in a fairly angry Arctic Ocean in 1964, have I ever felt so cold! The
idea that getting into a lifeboat might somehow help prolong my life when there was no escaping that wind-chill just
seemed nuts.
It felt like it might be just a tad warmer to simply jump into the water! People talk of strange things happening at sea;
could this be one of them?
No Consequence?
A.M.S…
An impression which seemed important at first, and moderately still is, is lack of ample news of what's
going on in the U.S. At 6pm, we get a pretty good BBC newscast, but as expected, it minutely records such
things as the Queen's visit to India, but little about home.
Later on, at 6:15 we get a sketchy U.S. news but in this period of the first 100 days of the “new horizon”
(J.F.K's new Presidency) it's not too informative. Despite most passengers on board being American, this seems to be
of no consequence.
